Throwing Flies in Taiwan

A day before my trip, I combed through the web, searching for any clues and evidence of fly fishing in Taiwan… I gathered a few bits and pieces here and there, mostly trails from forum discussions about fishing in general, but nothing I would call solid. My trip was set to start tomorrow and I was wondering if I should bring any gear at all, as the possibilities of fishing a river in Taiwan seems to slowly drift away. Then like a rising fish that comes after hours of seemingly empty waters, I find what looks like a Taiwanese on-line store for fishing gear. The site is only in Chinese, so I cannot decipher beyond that it seems to sell some gear, but even that wasn’t clear at this point. I jot down the phone number and then shot off to the airport.

It’s almost 8pm in Taipei City, and with some help from my local friends, I am able to locate an address. I soon find myself in the cab, heading to this address. It turns out to be a mountain climbing gear store, but then I notice some rods sticking out at a corner…. a very small but carefully selected section of fly fishing gear. Fish on. Through a series of questions, I am able to get a phone number of the owner of this fly fishing section. I make the call on the spot. I speak with a couple of people before I was able speak with a person who greeted me with “Hello, this is Caddis”. Just from the name, I knew this had to the be the person I wanted to speak with. I spoke the international language of desperate angler – “hello… hi, I am visiting from Chicago and I really want to fish here – can you help me”. To my surprise, Caddis spoke great English and I sensed a British accent. I was looking for a guide service, and Caddis explained to me the basic fishing situation in Taiwan. Discussion moved to a potential date, and we exchanged email addresses. I smiled all the way, on the drive back to the hotel. I had a date, and we were going to figure out where to fish. Lucky for me, this blind cast landed me a MBA graduate from UK, who also happens to be one of the pioneers of fly-fishing in Taiwan. I had work the next few days, but with possibility of meeting Taiwanese fish in the mountain rivers here, my step had a spring in it the whole time.



Friday night, after a few email exchanged I was ready to go. I only had a few hours to sleep, but came 5am, my eyes were wide open and I was ready. It was a warm Saturday morning as I stood and waited for the car to pick me up in front of the hotel. This is a busy intersection and I wasn’t sure how I would recognize the car. When it finally pulled up, there was no mystery that this was my ride. The car was tattooed all over with fishing brands, and on the front windshield was written in big characters, “Nature, Fish, Fly, Man”… This was Wesley. We were originally planning to go fish for baby tarpon near the harbor, but there was change in plans. Caddis hooked up with Wesley and we were heading up to the river valleys in southern Taipei county. We were very fortunate to have met Wesley, as he is researcher of this river, and knew it well. He explained to us the strict rules of this river and creek, and about the various species (20+) that live in these waters. He is also a writer for various sporting magazines, as well as an consultant to fly rod manufacturers. He’s already designed 5 or more series of rods. He’s just returned from his fishing trip to England, and was soon to go to Montana later part of this year. He is also an expert in waters of Japan.



The minute we walked onto the waters, I can see good sized fish scramble for cover. They were surprisingly large for the size of the creek and my heart was racing. My casting was faster than it should have been, and I couldn’t contain my excitement at the sight of these fish. As the day went on, and heat pounding us, I slowed down (not be choice). I was hotter than I have ever been in a long time, and I could barely keep the sweat out of my eyes. Finally, I could not take it anymore and I took a dive into one of the deeper holes. After I cooled down, a few more casts, and fish were on. These fishes are called top mouth (their mouth points upwards), and I believe they are herring of some sort. They fight well and spooked fairly easy. I did not have a fly that would sink fast enough so I ended up using a crazy Charlie and this seemed to do the trick. The creek is beautiful and is sized just right, with several deep pools along the hike. A few catches for all of us, then we wrapped up and headed off to lunch.



We ended the day with a great late lunch, and great conversation over tea (the BEST tea). Here is where Caddis explained to me about how he has trained the fish near his home with his famous "toast" fly. That was great story, perfectly fitting for the situation. I am very thankful to have met Caddis & Wesley, and I look forward to seeing them in US & Korea for some bass & trout action. Thanks again for great day, guys! See you soon.



* I will eventually provide links to Wesley & Caddis, but for the moment I will savor this find just a while longer. Shoot me a note if you’re interested in getting hooked up in Taiwan.